How Cruises Have Handled All These Hurricanes

Harvey. Irma. José. Katia. The onslaught of hurricanes seems unending. And yet, despite being at the mercy of these late-summer storms, the cruise industry has been handling itself with something approaching aplomb. The status of scheduled cruises is still fluid, with more changes expected. But as of Monday, Cruise Critic reported that 20 cruises had been canceled, 16 sailings shortened, and 16 itineraries altered. Clearly, it could have been worse.

Cruise Lines Have to Get Their Ships to Safety

Unlike a fishing boat, a cruise ship can’t ride out a hurricane by mooring in an inland canal or hiding among the mangroves. All a cruise ship can do is sail away—full steam ahead—to a safe harbor or calm waters. The real-time map of ship locations at Marine Traffic shows that cruise ships, tankers, and pleasure craft were doing precisely that in the face of Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest storms to ever hit Florida, with José fast on its heels. “The top priority for the cruise lines in all of this is safety,” says Stewart Chiron, better known as The Cruise Guy, who has been on the cruise beat for 28 years. “They’re not going to risk passengers’ lives or their ships.”
While cruise lines default to altering itineraries or canceling and providing refunds, some are sending fully stocked cruise ships to provide aid and relief to the Caribbean islands that were struck by the storms, providing food, water, and ice, and picking up stranded tourists. Norwegian’s [Norwegian Sky] (https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/sky#destinations) headed to St. Thomas to pick up 2,000 travelers stuck there, while four Royal Caribbean ships are ready for relief efforts in St. Martin, St. Thomas, Key West, and Tampa. “The cruise lines are receiving a great deal of good will in doing so,” says Jim Walker, a maritime lawyer in Miami and publisher of Cruise Law News. “Many people are debating which cruise line first thought of providing aid and assistance to the Caribbean in this generous way.”

Cruise Ports: Increasingly Hurricane-Resistant

But the cruise ports are a different matter. They can’t sail away. For them, it’s a matter of battening down the hatches, sending all nonessential personnel to safety, and doing what they can to minimize infrastructure damage—and there’s a procedure for that, developed and implemented by the U.S. Coast Guard. It goes from Condition Whisky (gale-force winds are expected within 72 hours; debris and potential flying hazards are secured) to Condition Zulu, just hours before a storm’s impact. All ship-to-shore operations cease during Zulu. It is a dangerous condition meriting a complete lock-down. All of South Florida’s ports were operating under Condition Zulu on Saturday, just before Irma made landfall.
You do not want to be in a port during Condition Zulu.

Buying travel insurance during hurricane season is one of your smartest moves.

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But the port facilities, according to Chiron, are battle-worthy. “The Port of Miami, Port Everglades, and Port Canaveral were built to withstand hurricanes,” he says. “They didn’t build these $200 million terminals just to look good.”
The Port of Galveston, Texas, survived late August’s Hurricane Harvey in good form thanks to some strategic long-term planning. “In new construction, we’ve elevated structures to a higher level,” says Peter Simons, the interim port director. “We built Cruise Terminal Number Two, which was completed in June 2016, six or seven feet higher than the existing terminal. Our future building program is all predicated on raising the base elevations of new structures.”

How Passengers Can Protect Themselves

But the safety of the ships and the integrity of the ports are only two parts of the equation when it comes to cruising and hurricanes. There’s also the passenger experience—or lack of an experience.
“You’ve got to remember that this is weather, and it’s always evolving,” says Chiron. “The cruise lines have to make decisions based on an ever-changing situation. Do we shorten the cruise? Do we change the itinerary? Do we cancel entirely?”
Passengers can take steps to protect themselves. If your cruise is potentially affected by a hurricane, the first thing you should do is follow your cruise line on Facebook and Twitter, where you can expect to find frequent updates. As Hurricane Irma approached Florida, Carnival Cruise Line was especially communicative on Facebook, listing the status of each cruise that was supposed to depart Florida before and after the storm. The Port of Galveston was an example of good communication as well, posting on Facebook multiple times a day during the approach and aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, offering links to cruise line updates, telling followers which roads to the cruise port were flooded or not, and in general offering as much information as they had available.
Another step is to read and understand your ticket contract, according to Christopher Elliott, a consumer advocate, and author of How To Be the World’s Smartest Traveler. That’s particularly useful if your cruise has been canceled or shortened, or if the itinerary has changed as a result of a natural disaster. If you don’t have a copy, you can find it on your cruise line’s website. Does it allow you to request a cash or credit-card refund (as opposed to a credit for a future cruise), and what are your options if the length or destinations of your scheduled cruise have been altered?
Finally, there is the matter of travel insurance. Says Chiron: “I don’t leave the country without buying travel insurance. It isn’t just about protecting the money I’ve spent; it’s about protecting my time and the experience.”

In fact, by Monday, Allianz Travel Insurance had already received 3,200 claims related to Hurricane Irma, and another 2,400 related to Hurricane Harvey. Elliott, the consumer advocate, concurs on the value of travel insurance.

“If you’re cruising anywhere, but especially in the Caribbean during hurricane season, I’d recommend that you buy travel insurance,” he says. “And I don’t mean ‘insurance lite’ that you purchase through the cruise line, but real hardcore travel insurance from a reputable company like TravelGuard or Allianz.”

After all, a hurricane is no time to be taking chances with your money, your vacation, or your personal safety.